connell: thank you for that. the president obama scheduled to get the first of many meetings started right now. you have the same cast of characters to go shooting the same issues. chris eyre -- joins us now. when you try to bet on it as market participants are trying to do, this time, what side do you take? >> well, good question. i think this time we go into the negotiations ii the president has, you know, a slightly different situation than he had before. he is reelected now so he does not have to face voters again in a year a half or so. also, the republicans are in a situation where they will be faced with tax increases at the end of the year. the expiration of all these tax cuts will go away. that will shift the leverage in the favor of the president a little bit. connell: how does that affect the markets and what you do? it may very well be that a higher tax environment is the reality in the future is just a matter of what is the order of magnitude, is it rates versus limiting deductions and things like th